Greetings,Im planning on creating playa reedy wheelchair accessible buggies , by buggies I mean, let me share some background ,my brother and I are both in electric wheelchairs and we want to create a small vehicle that we can pull our wheelchairs onto that is motorized with a seat for a driver, it would be a closed vehicle, to best describecheck this awesome vehicle http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/electri ... heels.html .im thinking this very idea but with a small gas/diesel engine that can handle a 400-500 pound wheelchair. With a see-through shell,tons of lights, not fiberglassed wood. A ramp that opens out thee back,im thinking it could look like A rolly polly.

Im looking for some advice or possibly someone who would be interested in collaborating on this project , i live in Fullerton Orange Curtain California ,im not a mechanical person and have ideas but i need advice/help on technical creativity , does anyone suggest what type of engine ? what materials should be used to stabilize a 400-500 lbs wheelchair(figure includes persons weight)?

For what it's worth, Captain, I believe there are concerns about breathing dust as well...

I'm guessing that you don't want to use the wheelchair as the drive because you are concerned about battery life.

[media]

These are built on wheelchair chasses. Or maybe you could do something with a scooter...A problem with trying to get your wheelchairs up on something is going to be ramp length. One inch rise per one foot distance makes things complicated. And while you can shorten that some, there's a limit to how much.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

...and I doubt going backwards down a ramp is preferred...so either room inside to spin a wheelchair around, or a ramp on the front as well....

Better if you could somehow lower the body to the Playa for loading/unloading, with a manual descent mode in case of battery failure....but all that adds $$$ and weight

and the driving controls....need to be intuitive and easy to operate, no fail modes, and a hand-operated braking system (hydraulic?)

oh - also be sure the CG is low, so it won't be tippy (or make the support base very wide...)

this would probably not work, but imagine two large (10' or so in diameter) "wheels" with no spokes, attached on their rims via bearings (so each can only spin parallel with the other). The rims are ~6" thick (with short sidewalls for the "bearings" to grab). A simple short ramp 2' long or so gets the wheelchair up into the rims, where they turn 90 degrees. At this point, each of their chair's "drive wheels" is on a different big wheel. When they drive their wheelchair, if they go forward - the wheels go forward. If they turn, the wheels turn. basically a set of huge wheels to allow them to go through Playa. of course, they use their chair's power pack...but there would be no "controls" to learn (or fail), and entrance, exit is intuitive.

Im looking to create a vehicle that someone can drive, We both have muscular dystrophy and the cold and long distances can affect our driving and if we could have a shell on the vehicle we can use a simple heater or ac to keep comfortable .As far as a ramp there can be pretty steep It needs to have a driver, i hope this helps.im very good at maneuvering my wheelchair onto tight areas.

There are wheelchair accessible golf carts and shuttles.Most vehicles I've seen use as low a floor as possible, either using small wheels or a dropped floor.

If it has to be large enough for a driver, then any vehicle that works for your purposes could be used as a base to build on.It's just a question of it being what you want.Trailers have been used behind carts, four wheelers, etc at times too.But you would need one with access.

A hot water remote heater is easy enough.

I can assure you that driving on the playa is very difficult at times, and worse in the city.Glass becomes very difficult to see through at night.

Building an engine-powered vehicle from scratch I would only recommend for the advanced mechanic, so maybe start with a flatbed light utility electric/gas cart and work from there? Something like this thing I googled up:

Or get a regular golf cart and strip it down to make your own flatbed. Trust me, dealing with all the controls from scratch is a very big undertaking. I am in Goleta, CA for anyone needing welding done on mutant vehicle/playa projects

If your adventurous, and have the money to blow, a simple extention to the riding platform on this MT52 should do the trick. And you can utilize the bucket/attachment arms for effects. You won't be speed racer on this contraption, but it should match the BRC speed limit.

are you talking with Twitch and Rat Lady from Mobility Camp?they know their stuff and please keep in mind the electric short out factormy gorgeous scooter almost immediately shorted (of course that was after my 22 yr old son tried it way out) and in spite of the efforts of mechanics I was stuck.xoA.

I ran a lithium battery powered scooter on the playa this year. I had no trouble with the electronics, and a simple, heavy gearing design made short work of silica (unlike nylon bike parts!!). PM me for brand info.

I'm ambulatory and therefore not 100% reliant on mobility devices, but I did notice that the playa presents a few hidden features which the casual passerby might overlook, such as:

Craters or dustbowls. It doesn't take much to reduce the mobility of small wheels, and six or eight feet of sand trap is just as deadly to mobility as fried shorts. I had the luxury of standing up and gently nudging the scooter to firm ground when the need arose.

Glorious washboards. That flat enticing playa looks pretty good from a large diameter wheeled bicycle, or the crow's nest of an art car, but for a smaller diameter wheel, these washboards qualify for the finals. Only on the uphill turn of a narrow logging road could they be more interesting. If rough bouncing is a problem for your condition (as mine) a scooter is out of the question. Plus, there's the added advantage of:

Disguising dust. Playa dust will coat every inch of the playa with the amazing flatness delusion. It is not flat, or smooth, in any stretch. Take your scooter across the esplanade (I did!!) and write your own travelogue of survival and triumph, but the story won't be flat.

However, as a vulnerable and labile disabled person I heartily encourage other disabled folks to attend burning man. You are safer at bm than anywhere else, including your own home. Make the investment. Prepare as best you can. Whatever goes wrong at burning man will be the best thing that ever went right in your life. Burning man isn't for the needy, however. Too many "hippies" have jaded some of the vision of giving, while making what remains very much more precious. Prepare, make your way, pitch in. Perhaps a simple recipe for successful negotiation of the playa. But the responsibility for success belongs to each of us alone.

For my part, although I can walk I cannot carry far. For the last three years I've used my pimped out bicycle for anonymity, stability and carrying. For ambulatory disabled, pushing a bicycle is a great way to burn righteously and minimally at little expense. And if your condition allows you to ride occasionally, you're ready to go, and what a blast. Also, walking a bicycle elicits so many offers of help from strangers at bm if it doesn't bring tears to your eyes you're a crocodile. This is a weird world, so I go to bm, where my head fits - even if my body doesn't.

Lovely to meet you Dear odd man outand I am going to ask you for more specifics about the battery and wheels. I am ambulatory and yet need more ..forever a burner and able to become an elder more gracefully only because of the annual trekwas this year my last ...maybe if I cannot do better xoA.

The camp I was with last year was next to Twitch and Rat Lady.Did not work for me, scooter shorted , etc.The only part that reined close to the original feeling I have was the time I spent working volunteer hours.I am considering possible options as BRC is essential to my identity after all.Tell me about your crew please.xoA.

Just a note from the Mobility Camp. Twitch is no longer associated with the camp, he was just a camp member. It looks like we will be downsizing some this year. Last year there were problems with campers who didn't bring attendants to help them, then needed our transportation home so our breakdown crew had to abandon the camp to drive them home to San Jose. People who were supposed to be camping with us who didn't, folks who had promised to bring stuff out and back, who bailed on wed, without telling anyone in camp. So it looks like this year there will be no disabled camping, just a charging station for folks to charge their own mobility equipment, the Art tours and some shuttle service. We just don't have the funds or the people to do more.

"Outside of a dog, books are man's best friends. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read!" Groucho Marx

Rat Lady......No! I'm disabled myself and although I wasn't planning on staying in the mobility camp I've read other posts about you and was very touched. It's a shame people screwed this up for others... If you have time can you pm me please? I'm a virgin burner so I'd like to discuss a few things with you.

As far as accessible mutant vehicles... I read on the BM site that no 4 wheelers were allowed but you can apply to drive your car if you're disabled? What about utv's? It seems safer than a car due to size/weight/no windshield. I have a teryx with hand controls that would work great for me...

OP do you need to stay in your chair? I'm an incomplete quad and hate sitting in my chair...if I were going to build something I'd make the mutant vehicle a chair itself. You could get almost everything you needed at tractor supply. 12" pneumatic wheels, a small 4 stroke motor, and steel tubing. Make a super comfy cool looking couch ride. I understand temperature regulating but why not use a mister and small fan, it seems pretty hard to build an air conditioned buggy, that will hold two power chairs, be enclosed, and stay together in the desert. BUT guys I'm in no way trying to discourage . I would love to see whatever awesome thing you create! Best wishes-